MegaMan Battle Network Ultimate Universe
by bluestar899
Summary: A rewrite of a 10-Year old fanfiction based on campaigns and lore from a BN RP of the same name. Join Lan Hikari and friends on their adventures in high school with new faces and new enemies abound! Chapter 5 - Lan and MegaMan investigate the remains of the ForestNet following AxeMan's self destruct. Things aren't looking good when...
1. Chapter 1

The year was 200X, an age in which machines were to a world-wide network and as a result living became easier for society. Net Navis, special digital avatars that live inside Personal Terminals or "PETs" were used jack into the Net to gather information and do other tasks on behalf of their operators. However with this newfound convenience, crimes became easier to perpetrate such as malicious computer virus attacks and Cyber Terrorism. Organizations such as the WWW, Gospel and Nebula caused the world to be in danger at least six times and would have succeeded in domination had it not been for the heroics of a boy and his own Net Navi.

Four years have passed since the last of the major crises when the Cybeasts Gregar and Falzar were defeated and the world for the most part enjoyed peace, prosperity and further advancements in society. Net crimes continued to exist however and the world would stay in constant danger until the day would come when Dr. Wily would finish his theoretical Colonel and Iris system that would guarantee complete Net Safety.

As for the boy who saved the world many times over and his Navi…

"Lan…Lan…! LAN! Wake up!"

"Hwaaaah!?" a voice shouted followed by a thud.

Lan Hikari, world savior and now high school student was on the floor.

"Owww…" he grumbled while rubbing the back of his head, "What's with all the yelling, MegaMan?"

"Finally! Do you have any idea what time it is?" a voice shouted from the PET near a laptop, "You're going to be late for school!"

The boy shrugged while he walked around his room and started getting dressed, putting on a white T-shirt, long black pants with orange and blue stripes on the sides and a sleeveless orange jacket that had his Navi Symbol on the left breast pocket. He slipped on a headband that was partially obscured by his shoulder length spikey brown hair and walked over to his PET, which was now in its 10th and last iteration as a palm sized device that was worn on the wrist.

"Meh, I've been late before, what's one more time going to do?" he said to his Navi while slipping the Terminal on.

"You're going to make Mayl wait."

Lan's face paled as a cold drop of sweat rolled down his cheek.

"Better get moving."

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**"

"Looks like our son's finally awake," Haruka Hikari said with a glance upstairs.

"Some things never change it seems," Yuichiro remarked with a chuckle while reading the paper.

Lan came running down with his backpack in tow while putting on orange gloves with black palms and blue trimming before running into the kitchen.

"Hi mom, hi dad!" he said while grabbing an apple off the kitchen counter and leaving, "Can't talk! Gotta go bye!"

"Forgetting something?" his father asked.

He looked back to see Yuichiro tapping his glasses, "Ack!

A quick dash to his room later Lan returned with his own pair of blue framed spectacles on before putting on his shoes and running out of the house.

"He's really starting to take after you with those on," his mother said while sitting down at the table with the coffee pot.

"I was never this bad at keeping punctual," came the reply.

"Oh I wouldn't say that, dear. You had your moments when we were younger…"

* * *

"Lan Hikari, do you have any idea how long I was waiting here!?" said Mayl Sakurai, Lan's childhood friend and now girlfriend of two years.

She stood with her arms crossed, her now long red hair moving slightly as she leaned back on a leg. She wore an aqua blue shirt with short sleeves that exposed her shoulders, a gold bracelet on her right arm and her pink PET on the other, a short pink skirt and knee high black boots with red soles.

"I'm sorry Mayl, I didn't mean to be late!" he said while ducking under her stare now that she was his equal in height, "I kinda stayed up longer than I should have."

"Were you Netbattling again?" she asked with a raised brow.

He shook his head while taking off his backpack and digging into it, "No. I was cleaning this. Here you go."

He handed her a wrapped object that she took and looked over. Slowly she opened it up and gasped when she saw a clip with a pink heart on it.

"Is this my old hairclip?" she asked while marveling at it.

"Yeah, I found it the other day after you lost it, but it was covered in some really nasty stuff," Lan said with a grin, "It took some elbow work but it's good as new."

She smiled while putting it on to the side of an extremely long bang that partly covered the left of her face, then hugging him, "Thanks Lan, I really appreciate this."

"Ehehehe…no problem."

"Now, let's get moving or we're going to be late," she said while taking his hand and pulling him along.

He nodded as the two walked down the streets of ACDC Town, cheeks rosy.

"So…anything new on the net?" Lan asked.

"Nothing good," a voice said from Mayl's PET, "Another bombing occurred last night. It was a factory this time. Lots of injuries and one person is in critical condition."

"…was it N.O.E.T. again?"

The redhead nodded while bringing up her wrist and tapping it, causing the PET to project a large screen in front of them that she tapped as well, "Yeah it was. Here's the latest."

A new window popped up that he read over, frowning.

"Terrorist Navis attack again. Mysterious black Navi seen at the crime," Lan quoted as they arrived at the gate to ACDC High, "That's the third sighting of this Navi now."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much now," Mayl said with a sigh, "Seeing as class is about to start.

His face pale before the two bolted inside in hopes of catching class before the bell rang.

* * *

_A/N: Welcome to the world of MegaMan Battle Network Ultimate Universe, a rewrite of an unfinished fanfiction I initially made 10 years ago! To make a long winded tale short, said story was a novelization of several campaigns and lore from a now dead Battle Network Roleplay __board aptly named Battle Network Universe that I spent a long time at. Now that 10 years have passed since BNU's founding I figure rather than just simply post the fanfiction on here why not redo it from scratch with some extra stuff thrown in? Hence the Ultimate tag added on here._

___This story will be set between the 20 year gap before BN6's ending takes place and because its based on an RP board, there will be OCs and a decent chunk of them in future chapters, just warning you guys on that now. However I do feel that not all OCs are doomed to suck/be Mary Sues and I'm positive I can prevent that from happening here._


	2. Chapter 2

Yai sighed as she glanced to her side as the bell for class rang and the teacher, a man in his early twenties named Ryu Azura was taking a head count.

"Ayanokoji, Oyama…" he said while spotting two empty seats and frowning as the door to the room opened up, "…and Hikari and Sakurai. Glad to see you two are willing to take time out of your date to come to class."

The two blushed while snickers filled the room.

"I'll see you two after school," he said, "Now please be seated."

"Yes Mr. Azura…"

The teacher cleared his throat while standing in front of the whiteboard and facing the students, "Now class, as you know we live in some pretty dangerous times right now thanks to the recent Net Crimes by N.O.E.T. Who can tell me what the name stands for?"

"The National Organization of Eco-Terrorists?" asked a girl with pink hair wearing a cap.

"That's right Plum. These guys were originally activists that claimed 'the pollution in the world is rising to an extreme and that technology is the source of the problem' and they believed that eliminating this problem would fix things."

The students nodded, most already aware of this news.

"At first their method were minute with protests here and there. Now though things have well…escalated quickly with their protests being more violent. Businesses bombed, assassinations and viral attacks over the Net. Thankfully the police have been able to keep things from getting completely out of hand," he said before frowning as he saw his class getting excited over the prospect of an eventual end to the crisis, "However this doesn't mean we should be resting on our laurels. N.O.E.T. may be fighting a losing battle but that means they're going to become desperate. Between the Police having had the upper hand in conflict so far their ranks have been depleted and their attacks have become increasingly dangerous. This means that now more than ever we have to be careful."

"Never thought of it like that," one of the students said.

"That's Mr. Azura for you. He's not an Ex-Official for nothing," remarked a girl wistfully.

Lan agreed in silence. From what he knew Ryu Azura was a former Official Netbattler of much skill who left to pursue a career in teaching. At the age of twenty he was the youngest among the staff at ACDC High and the crush of more than a few students due to his blue eyes, sleek brown hair with parted bangs and a constant five o'clock shadow. He was tall and wore a simple white shirt under a blue jacket that had fang like markings along the sleeves, black jeans and a generic black coloured PET on his right arm, though nobody had ever seen his Net Navi.

"N.O.E.T. likes to attack where innocent people can be caught up in any potential fighting to cause confusion, making it extremely difficult for Police and Officials to do their job," Ryu said with a sigh, "They know this and have used it to their advantage to elude arrest time and time again."

"So what should we do if we get caught up in the battle?" asked a girl in a pink shirt, white skirt with long blue hair that was tied in two braids.

"Notify the authorities immediately and avoid Netbattling N.O.E.T. agents at all costs. Leave them to the professionals. If you have no choice though try to be defensive with Barriers and Invisible chips. Try to stall out the fight as much as you can until help arrive."

"Makes sense," she said.

"However keep in mind that these guys are terrorists and they may pull a dirty stunt to get their way. They're Net Criminals no different from WWW or Nebula."

Lan shuddered at the last group. Remembering Nebula meant remembering Liberation Missions and no one liked to think about those.

"Any further questions?" Ryu asked, receiving silence as an answer, "Good. Now we can begin with today's math lesson…"

* * *

"If you think you can keep up with us, you're crazy!" shouted Johnny Dash as his Navi NitroMan attained a healthy lead over four others that were racing through the ForestNet.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," replied a boy with black hair wearing a bandanna and a racing suit, "TurboMan's no slouch in a race."

"Don't count CometWoman out either!"

The pack tore through the thousands over Grass panels, twisting around trees and leaping over Mettaurs as the finish line near ForestNet-2 drew near.

CometWoman, a green Navi with pink trimmings along her armour and long white hair that glittered with stardust narrowed her eyes, "…what's that over there?"

"Do you see something?" asked Vega, her operator.

"Yeah, there's a Navi at the finish line and he's huge!"

"I see it too," TurboMan said while squinting through his sunglasses, "He looks like a lumberjack with an axe that's got to be three panels long."

"An axe wielding lumber jack Navi? Oh no!" Kai Todoroki shouted in alarm, "That's AxeMan, the Leader Navi of N.O.E.T.!"

"What!?"

"Johnny, stop the race! We have to get out of here now!" Vega said, concerned.

"And give up? Never!" the dashing blonde said, "If that guy is gonna stand in the way of victory then we'll just run him over! NitroMan, full speed ahead!"

The red and grey motorcycle with a race helmet instead of a seat nodded and increased its acceleration while sprouting blades from his handle bars that pointed forward.

AxeMan grunted as he picked up his weapon and swung it effortlessly with one arm, cleaving the incoming NitroMan before Johnny could even blink.

"Hardly worthy of my notice," he said while adjusting his toque and snapping his fingers.

CometWoman and TurboMan came to a half as viruses upon viruses appeared in front of them, their numbers well over a hundred.

"Delete them."

* * *

_A/N: This chapter had to be considerably reworked as the original version had everyone in ACDC Elementary getting a lecture from Ryu (who was my BN OC and the lead character of my first YGO Fanfic) who came from ACDC High to talk about N.O.E.T. while talking about ACDC High. I don't think I have to point out what needed to be changed here. The ForestNet race is entirely new and features some cameos from unlikely places! There will be a few of those too._

_Also I'm going to be positing the original version of this story from 10 years ago on my blog, so if you want to compare the two check it out! I also do YGO locals reports from there._


	3. Chapter 3

"Boy do I sure love burgers!" Lan said before taking an enormous bite out of one.

"Eat up while you can, you're gonna need the energy for detention," snickered Dex, who towered over the four friends at a height of six feet. His size and notable girth had him pursuing several athletic activities such as basketball and wrestling, hence why he was dressed in a green muscle shirt, blue shorts and wore white sporting tape over his hands.

"Yeah, yeah…"

"It's your fault Lan," Yai said, who was now closer to his height thanks to a recent growth spurt. She wore her long yellow hair back as a pony tail that reached near her hips and a red dress that stopped blow her knees with a pearl encrusted sash across her hips, "Why you even got Mayl in trouble!"

"It's okay Yai, I don't mind," the redhead said with a blush, "We got…distracted."

"Yech…" the blonde snorted while sipping some water.

Dex snickered again, "You knew this was how it was gonna be."

"Doesn't make it less gag worthy."

"What an odd group of people," said the blue haired girl with two braids as a drop of sweat rolled down the back of her head as she stood in line waiting to get her own burger.

"Oh, Lan and his friends? Yeah they're a bit eccentric," said a voice from behind her.

Startled, the girl looked around to see a young man with messy dark blonde hair wearing a white shirt and beige cargo pants, holding a tray with some food on it. She guessed him to be sixteen, a year older than herself.

"Did I startle you? Sorry about that," he said while offering a hand, "Ken Merora."

"Miaka Ryuzaki," the girl said while shaking it before looking back to the group in wonder.

"You must be new around here if watching Lan Hikari eat is fascinating."

Mika looked at him in surprise, "Y-yes. I just transferred a few days ago, but how did you know that?"

"I haven't seen you around before and I know all the faces around here," Ken explained.

"Yeah, he's kinda into the whole ninja thing like that. Believe it," a voice said from his wrist.

"Shaddup, MirrorMan."

"MirrorMan?"

He brought up his PET, "My Net Navi. Say hello."

"Why halo thar toast!" shouted the downscaled hologram of a man wearing full body armour akin to a knight that shimmered with a reflective coating.

"I…see," Miaka said with a blink before bringing up her arm, "Well two can play at this game. Say hi Sakura!"

"Umm…hi," said the Navi that looked like a girl wearing light pink clothing under a dark pink body plate, bracers and greaves along with a pink beret. She had hazel eyes and short brown hair with long bangs that covered the sides of her face.

"Interesting Navi design…does she capture cards by chance?" Ken asked and was promptly given a glare, "Okay…okay…."

The two talked some more while getting their food and Miaka explaining her father's recent transfer to the Scilab in Electopia and that he brought his family with them.

"Ah. It's tough moving to new place but it's pretty fun around here once you get used to the weird stuff," he said as his PET beeped.

"Crap, I'm late for study hall. I have to go. See you around Miaka."

Ken left with a wave before muttering about tests and comparing them to things that the girl took care not to repeat in public.

"Nice guy," Sakura remarked as they walked around in search of a seat.

"What do you mean the ForestNet's under attack!?" Lan shouted while standing up.

Miaka looked at him along with half the students in the cafeteria as he was talking to his Navi with a horrified expression on his face. Curious, she began to sneak over to eavesdrop.

"…several of the trees are gone already, viruses are everywhere and some Navis have been deleted," MegaMan said from inside the PET, "Reports say it's N.O.E.T."

"Are the police on the scene?" Mayl asked.

"Yeah, but the problem is that it's AxeMan."

"Then we've got to do something!" Lan said while putting on his backpack, "Let's go, MegaMan!"

"Lan, wait!" Yai shouted, but to no avail as he ran off, shooting past Miaka.

"Eep!" she shrieked, spinning wildly on her heels.

She came to a stop a moment later, stumbling around as she tried to regain her composure.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked, drawing her attention away from the increasingly appealing floor.

"Y-yeah…just give me a moment to make everything stop moving…" she groaned while holding her head and turning to the voice.

Mayl was standing in front of her, an expression of sadness on her face.

"I'm so sorry, Lan didn't mean to do that."

"Do what?"

The redhead point to Miaka's shirt which was now plastered with ketchup, relish and other food from her tray.

"Oh no…" she said with dot like eyes and a trembling lip, "Mom's gonna kill me…"

"It's okay. We can help," Mayl said as she led the girl out of the cafeteria with Yai following.

"What happened?" one of the students asked Dex who was still sitting at the table.

"Sounds like N.O.E.T. is attacking the ForestNet," he replied while looking at his PET, "AxeMan himself is tearing the place up and he's as strong as ProtoMan was before him and Chaud got promoted to International work."

He glanced to the window where he saw Lan hopping onto the bus, heading over to stop the seeds of chaos that were blooming in the forest.

* * *

The skies were dark as BurstMan and MagmaMan stood backs together, shooting down more viruses than they could count. For every Met that was deleted, five more would rush to take its spot.

"This is endless!" BurstMan shouted.

"Then allow me to put you out of your misery," a voice said, belonging to a large figure with an axe in hand.

With a single swing the two were deleted as the Navi rested his weapon on a shoulder.

"Well done, AxeMan," said a deep, rugged voice.

It belonged to a man holding an older style PET in hand, jacked into a tree that was a fusion of machine and plant. He wore a toque over his bushy black hair, had a long beard, and wore a plaid shirt, blue jeans and brown studded boots that made him look like a lumberjack to anyone that saw him.

"Thanks Jack," the Navi said as he walked up to a giant, neon tree that was at the core of ForestNet 2 and readied his axe.

He cleaved through it with one chop, causing it to fly into the air before smashing through the ground, cutting off the flow of data to the tree Jack was plugged into.

"Jack Out. We need to move before the Netbattlers arrive."

The lumberjack walked into a new area, leaving a path of dead foliage in his wake as he found a large tree and plugged into it. AxeMan beamed into ForestNet 3 where trees and bushes could be seen among the grass panels. Further ahead of him was another large neon tree, the source of life to several of the spliced trees that had become a marvel of Electopia, the Techno Forest. Lie the earlier ones he had cut down, removing this one would cause several of the machine/plant hybrids to die.

"Let's begin," Jack said as he fiddled with is PET.

The skies above AxeMan rippled like a pond as pixels of data appeared, taking on the form of Mettaur and Swordy viruses that descended onto various parts of the area, ferociously attacking whatever they could. The Navi sighed as he walked to the data tree.

"Don't you think this has gone too far?" he asked his operator.

"Truthfully? Yes. However **they're** the ones that have pushed for this and we need them to realize our goal," Jack replied, "So as much as we may hate this, we've got to grin and bear it."

"A terrorist with a conscience? An interesting specimen."

AxeMan whirled around.

"Who said that? Show yourself!"

"Very well," a voice said as leaves, grass and vines started to come together in front of him, taking on a humanoid shape.

"What in the Undernet is that?" Jack asked as a Navi made up of vines wearing leaves for armour, long hair made of grass and thorns around his wrists appeared.

"I am ForestMan, guardian of this Network," it said as it moved aside a giant leaf that was on the front of his helm to show a human face with green eyes, "And I cannot allow you to continue your wanton destruction of this beautiful eco-system."

"That's been sullied by technology? Feh!" AxeMan said as he ran at the Navi with his weapon raised.

"Not sullied, enhanced," ForestMan countered while leaping out of an overhead chop.

He landed on his feet and a hand while throwing his free arm out, lashing at the terrorist with a whip made of vines. AxeMan leapt out of the attack with a flip.

"He's fast!"

"Thought I was a lumbering bruiser, eh?" the Navi said while effortlessly spinning his weapon around with one hand, "Don't feel bad, everyone makes that mistake before I kill them."

He slammed the butt end of his weapon into the ground, causing spikes of wood to shoot up all around the battlefield, forcing ForestMan to leap into the air to avoid getting skewered.

"Gotcha."

The Navi twisted around to see the enemy behind him, chopping down with his axe.

"Timber!" AxeMan shouted as he cleaved off an arm and kicked ForestMa in the chest, sending him crashing into the ground.

"This is the end," Jack said as his Navi spun around and threw his axe at his opponent like a boomerang.

"Mega Buster!" a voice cried out as a beam of pink light struck the weapon, sending it flying back.

Jack, AxeMan and ForestMan all looked over to the entrance of the area where they saw a blue Navi holding up an arm cannon.

"Is that who I think it is?" the operator said as he got a look at the Navi who wore light blue gloves, boots and body plate.

"Yeah, it is. Though he looks a bit older than I remember…" AxeMan said as he noticed gold shoulder pads and a dark blue helmet with ridges along the side, a yellow line running along the top and a red jewel in the center, "…that's most definitely the Blue Bomber, MegaMan."

"Phew, looks like we got here in time," Lan said as he stood near a cyber-tree in a different part of the forest.

"I'll say," MegaMan remarked as he ran over to ForestMan, "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'll manage," the Navi replied while holding his stump of a right shoulder as the duo faced AxeMan.

"This is getting complicated," he said with a glance to the now cloudy skies as he raised his arm, "Come! Viruses!"

"Not more of them!" ForestMan shouted as extra Mettaur, Swordy and now Fishy viruses descended.

"Let's go. We have to get to the Heart," Jack stated.

"Agreed," AxeMan replied as he left for the next area.

MegaMan fired at him as he escaped, "Get back here!"

"Never mind him, the Forest Heart is not so easily destroyed," ForestMan said as he pointed to the neon tree in the distance, "See that? We must protect it. If we leave these viruses unchecked they'll destroy it."

"Then let's get virus busting!" Lan said while slotting in chips, "No time for tutorials, let's go MegaMan!"

"Big Bomb!" the blue shouted with a toss of his arm.

"Razor Leaf!"

A loud rumble shook the ground as line of explosions appeared while viruses fell by the dozens, but were replaced by more. The two continued to shoot and hack their way through the horde as minutes passed, but to no end in sight as lightning flashed in the skies.

"This is crazy!" MegaMan shouted as the viruses edged closer to the tree.

"We're not going to make it at this rate!" ForestMan shouted as lightning flashed followed by a loud roar of thunder shook the land, causing him to look up.

"Something wrong with the weather?" the blue asked.

"Yeah, we don't **have** weather!"

"MegaMan I'm picking up high energy readings from above, watch out!"

Large bolts of lightning came down, lashing at the ground like whips that tore through the viruses and cleaved up the earth. Several explosions appeared more electricity rained upon the battlefield, shaking the area and stumbling the Navis as groups of viruses were deleted.

"MegaMan, are you okay!?" Lan shouted while squinting at his PET.

"Yeah, just a bit surprised," the blue said as he looked up at the skies, "I wonder what caused that?"

"Over there!" ForestMan shouted, pointing.

High above the battlefield was a green Navi with its arms placed forward, lightning dancing between its palms.

"Today's forecast? Thunder storms. And lots of them."

* * *

_A/N: Remember how I've mentioned that this story is a write up of campaigns from an RP board? This is where it starts to become evident as we have the introduction of several OCs in Jack/AxeMan, Miaka/Sakura and Ken/MirrorMan, the later two being members ended up becoming Staff due to their talents. They're also fun as hell to write with so they'll be appearing on a semi-regular basis. ForestMan, who is a boss from the fan game Rokko Chan appears here in place of Chaud and ProtoMan as rather than have them fight AxeMan then never be seen again like in the original BNU, I'd rather have them be already absent and appear later in a badass manner._


	4. Chapter 4

MegaMan squinted as he tried to identify the Navi. He wore green armor with gold trimming over a black under suit with lightning bolts running down the sides. His gauntlets, boots, chest plate and helm were all adorned with some form of jewelry that shimmered with the lightning that moved around his body which was a height taller than most Navis, but slender as well. His most distinguishing features however were a pair of sharp, gold fins that ran along the top of his helmet and pointed out in a V shape and a pair of large wings made entirely of electricity that were being used to keep him afloat!

Feeling eyes on him, the Navi looked at the group and pointed to the next area.

"I think he's telling us to go ahead," MegaMan said.

"Seriously?" Lan replied in surprise.

"I agree with him. We have to get moving. Who knows how much time we've lost fighting these mooks," ForestMan said as he limped towards the Forest-Heart.

"I think we can trust this guy, Lan."

"Alright, alright. Let's get going then."

MegaMan nodded at the Navi before leaving.

"Finally," it said while sidestepping a Fishy attack and pointing his arm, transforming it into a large barreled cannon and shooting it down in one hit, "Now that they're gone I can…play around."

He snapped up an arm, causing the rubies on his elbows and knees along with the diamonds on his wrists, chest plate and helm to flicker brighter. The lightning around himself, which had moved around gently shifted into a wild dance, lashing out at anything that came close as he opened his hand and a long spear materialized into his grasp.

"Now…shall we begin?"

XXXXXXX

A virus was blown clear by a shot from MegaMan's buster as he and ForestMan ran through the expansive final area of the ForestNet, known as the Forest-Heart.

"Why would they go after so many of the other trees when cutting this one you talked about would be easier?" Lan asked into his PET as he was jacked into a different tree.

"The design of the Techno Forest is not that simple," ForestMan replied as he lashed out with a vine whip and cut down a Mettaur with a critical blow, "Each of those trees is a power station for the Forest-Heart. Because of them the core is protected by a powerful barrier that can withstand just about anything so direct attacks won't do much."

"So get rid of the smaller trees…" MegaMan stated.

"And the Forest-Heart becomes vulnerable!"

Both Navis tore through a mob of Swordys as they saw a large, pulsing object in the far distance.

"We're getting closer. A few more minutes at most. Don't stop now!" ForestMan urged as they ran through increasingly complicated pathways and a few conveyor belts.

TauMan and Talon were cleaved in two as AxeMan made his way over to a large tree that beat every other second, shuddering as life energy flowed from it.

"So this is the core," he said before taking a swing at it.

His chop was deflected by a faint barrier.

"It's still protected?" Jack asked, "Looks like we underestimated those two Navis if they were able to stop such overwhelming odds."

"So what now? Do we go back and finish the job?"

"No time. If they were able to handle that horde then they're coming. Just keep trying. The barrier should be weakened enough that repeated attacks will get rid of it."

"So be it," AxeMan said as he spun his weapon with both hands and slammed it into the shield, causing the area to shake as a loud bang filled the air.

Grunting he spun the weapon again and wound back. A boomerang striking the barrier and exploding stopped him.

"Can't have you doing that," a voice said.

AxeMan looked around, squinting as he saw movement in the shadows between trees. He snorted.

"I you think you can hide from me in a forest, then you're a fool!" the Navi shouted as he threw his axe as a boomerang at the trees.

It cleaves through and felled them to show a black Navi in a navy blue cape that leapt out of the carnage. He landed in front of AxeMan and threw out his arm, revealing the rest of himself to him. The Navi wore black plating over his chest, arms and legs along with large gauntlets that had studded white knuckles. What AxeMan noticed most was the black Spartan like helmet with a visor that obscured his face, but could undoubtedly be seen through from the Navi's perspective.

"What in the Undernet are you!? A caped crusader? Some kind of dark knight?"

"Close enough," the Navi said in a gruff voice while raising one of his oversized fists, "The name's Jazz. You may have heard of me."

Jack scratched his beard while he recalled something, "…as a matter of fact, yes. You're some kind of vigilante from the Undernet of reputable power. You strive to deliver justice in a world without law or some nonsense like that."

"It's more complicated than that, but sure. Whatever appeals to you."

"So why come here, UnderNavi?" AxeMan asked with a snarl, "N.O.E.T has no business with your kind."

"Funny you say that seeing as some of your boys were snooping around and causing a ruckus recently. They were a real obnoxious lot."

Jack growled as his Navi looked to him.

"Could he mean those guys?"

"It's likely. Damn them. Stupid idiots," the operator grunted, "Just what do they want from the Undernet?"

"These guys were dealt with, just so you know. However we never learned what they wanted from us," Jazz said as he walked over to AxeMan, "So I took it upon myself to get some answers straight from you guys. Unfortunately nobody I met were willing to talk, at least not while dealing with the officials."

"…the black Navi sightings," AxeMan stated, "It was you who attacked my brothers!"  
"It was the other way around, but I doubt you're going to accept that."

"You will pay for what you've done!" the Navi roared as he swung down at Jazz with his axe. The black rolled out of the chop and made a sweep with his leg to trip up the enemy. AxeMan fell to his back, but leapt to his feet and brought in is weapon to deflect a punch. The hit rang loudly throughout the area as the Navi felt himself being pushed back by the force of the blow.

"A strong one, eh?"

"When it comes to close quarters, I'm probably the strongest," Jazz explained while snapping out an arm, "These hands can glow with an awesome power when I need them to."

"Is that so?" AxeMan said with a grin as he took a few steps back and slammed his fist into the ground, "Then let's see how you fair at a distance! Wood Tower!"

Sharpened tree stumps sprang up from the ground in trying to skewer the black. Jazz swore as he leapt out of the spears and landed on the other side of a newly made forest of death spikes.

"Axe Boomerang!"

The black looked up to see AxeMan's weapon flying at him and grunted. He slammed his hand into the ground and ripped up a large slab of rock that was tossed at the incoming attack. The projectiles collided, causing the panel to shatter while the axe went back to its owner.

"This could be a problem," Jazz muttered as AxeMan slammed his weapon into the ground and summoned more spikes.

"Can you keep this up, UnderNavi!?"

Jazz answered by back flipping over a spike and landing on the side of another while grabbing a pair of nun chucks from his belt. He launched himself off the makeshift platform while wielding the weapon round in such a frenzy that it tore through the remaining spikes while rapidly closing in on AxeMan.

"What the!?" Jack shouted as his Navi was again face to face with the black.

Jazz slammed his weapon down, striking AxeMan with enough force to split the ground under him as he was driven deep into it. This was followed up by a swift punch to the side of the head that ripped the Navi out of his sinkhole and threw him straight against the barrier, causing him to bounce off and land harshly on his side.

"AxeMan!"

Jazz whipped the nun chuck around some more before putting it away and walking over to the Navi.

"So, are you willing to talk about what your boys were up to now, or do I need to convince you some more?"

"Even if I knew, I wouldn't say a damned thing…" AxeMan said while slowly getting back to his feet, "As I'm far from getting started."

He slammed his axe into the ground, summoning up spikes that Jazz leapt out of once more. The Navi grinned as he followed this up with a stomp, causing the towers to fly out of the terrain and up at his opponent.

"What the!?" Jazz shouted in surprise as spikes were flying _up_ at him instead of the usual down.

"My mastery of the Wood Tower goes beyond most Navis. I can do several tricks using the spikes that are summoned, like this," the Navi explained as he summoned up more spikes and stomped his foot again, "Good luck dodging all of it!"

The black grunted as he twisted around to avoid being skewered, leaping onto and off several of the trees in the process.

"I see. Well if you're willing to show me your special move, then it's only fair I do the same," Jazz said as he made a fist and swung, "Hah!"

He struck a sightless wall, triggering a shockwave that made the air ripple like a pond as it passed through the spikes and caused them to fly off in random directions.

"Look out!" Jack shouted as his Navi leaped out of the ones that came his way.

Jazz landed and dashes at AxeMan with his fist drawn back, the air around it also rippling as he again came up to and punched his opponent.

"Final Fist!" he yelled while striking the Navi square in the chest to trigger a large explosion of white that consumed both of them.

Jack became pale as his PET screen was entirely white, prompting him to shake it, "Nonononononono AxeMan!"

The blast died out, leaving behind a small crater that the Navis stood in. Jazz looked over at a fallen AxeMan who had lost an arm and was sporting several open wounds that caused bits of data to "bleed" out.

"D-damn you," he grunted while trying to move away from the black.

"This is your fault. I just came to talk," Jazz said as he walked to the lumberjack Navi, "You were the one who picked a fight."

He reached down and picked AxeMan up by the collar of his jacket armour.

"This is your last chance. Are you going to talk or do I play hard cop."

AxeMan spat in his face. Jazz frowned under his visor and brought up a fist.

"You asked for it. Danger Gri-"

"STOP!" a voice rang out.

Both Navis looked to the side where MegaMan and ForestMan stood, weapons pointed at them.

"Thank the network, we aren't too late," the latter said with a look around, "The core is still intact."

MegaMan kept silent as he stared at the two Navis and glanced up, "Lan, are you seeing this?"

"Yeah. AxeMan and a black Navi. You think he's the one on the news?"

"Has to be."

The Navi in question turned around to face the two and whistled, "Well I'll be. If it isn't the Blue Bomber and former UnderKing."

"You know about that?" MegaMan asked, surprised.

"Yeah. It was quite the scene in the UnderSquare when you defeated Serenade to become Number 1, even if it was for a short time. Since then my fellow UnderNavis have had some respect for you, albeit grudgingly."

"He's from the UnderNet!?" Lan gasped.

"You got it. The name's Jazz and I'm here to find out why this guy's grunts picked a fight with us," came the reply as the black looked to AxeMan, "Well? You're kind of outnumbered 3 to 1 and in horrible condition. I think talking is your only option here."

"…I don't know," he said with a sigh, "The Navis you talked about weren't mine."

"Say what? Those guys were clearly your agents. They said as much."

"They were N.O.E.T. Navis, but they didn't always wear our colours. They originally belonged to a different group that had been helping us achieve our goals."

"Another group?" MegaMan asked.

"Right. When we formed N.O.E.T. and asked for likeminded people to join, a Navi acting on behalf of a group contacted us. They were interested in helping us as our goals were within their best interests," AxeMan explained, "However their help came on conditions that we had to abide by."

"Their assistance was too valuable to pass up however, so we agreed. Perhaps we should have declined," Jack added before shaking his head, "Whatever. What's done is done. They have asked us to do some horrible things that I will have to live with for the rest of my life, but if it's for the sake of this world I'll do it."

"I couldn't agree more!" his Navi shouted while breaking out of Jazz's grip and jumping back to the core, "Who used who? I for one will never know!"

He looked up.

"Jack! It's time for the final option!"

His op fell silent as his hands started to tremble, "…you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm going to give our cause every last bit that I have," AxeMan said as his eyes narrowed, "Right until the bitter end."

"…so be it," Jack said as he pressed buttons on his PET in a specific way, "I'm sorry, AxeMan."

"No. I'm the one who should be apologizing for what I'm going to put you through," the Navi replied as he started flashing.

Lan raised an eyebrow as his PET beeped, "Hmm? I'm detecting a rise in AxeMan's energy output. It's going well beyond the recommended limit for most Navis."

Jazz took a step back in alarm, "He's going to self-destruct!"

"What!?" ForestMan shouted, "No! The blast will destroy the core! We have to stop him!"

"Too late!" the lumberjack yelled as he started to detonate via small blasts.

AxeMan let out a high pitched laugh as the explosions he made turned blue as the area became whiter and his form could only be seen as a black silhouette.

* * *

_A/N: The N.O.E.T. Arc comes to a climax here with a showdown between AxeMan and yet another OC in the form of Jazz. Jazz being the NetNavi of BNU's head administrator is not surprisingly a very strong one that was never really seen that often but when he did show up it meant some real crazy stuff was going to go down, like in this case. The character itself has always been the cool and mysterious type, a complete contrast to the person who made the character who is anything but. I know he's reading this too and and all I will say is you know it's true, Dray._

_I also admit that the combat isn't anything too special. I'm really out of practice when it comes to writing fight scenes and I hope to get back into the swing of that by the time the next couple story arcs are done, as the combat will ramp up in future chapters if my original version has shown me anything. Oh and the obscure use of Wood Tower? That kind of stuff actually happened at BNU. Members were often encouraged to do that kind of thing. Some were really good at it. I preferred to use special moves._


	5. Chapter 5

"Bah, this isn't fun anymore," said the green and black lightning Navi as he sidestepped a tackle and skewered a virus with his spear, "Even with a handicap these things are just too easy."

He glanced to his back, where his left arm was. In trying to challenge himself the Navi had spent the last while fighting viruses with only his weaker arm.

"Should have just gone after the terrorist, consequences be damned."

He tossed the spear up while shifting his arm into a cannon and firing several large shots that smote clusters of viruses on the spot. This was followed by charging energy into the buster, pointing it to a swarm of Fishy in the air and unleashing a mighty beam of blue that tore through their ranks, leaving a line of explosions as the area began tremble.

"Hmm? What's with the shaking? I didn't fire off **that** strong of a shot…" he said while looking to the distance and spotting a large explosion, "…oh. Looks like things are getting crazy over there. By the looks of it the fight's going to be over in a bit."

He looked around and grinned, "Well then…I suppose I should stop screwing around and wrap this up!"

((BGM – The Thunder Dragon Descends!))

The Navi jumped into the sky, wings of lightning spread as a thunderbolt lit the area. He raised his arm, catching the spear and swinging it out as a rumble shook the ground.

"Break through the limits!" he shouted as the jewel on the center of his helmet lit up and large bolts appeared around his body.

The lancer raised both arms as thunder boomed, the skies darkened and the lightning around him grew intense.

"Thunder that moves at the speed of light, piercing everything in an instant…lightning that heralds the end!"

He threw down his arms, "Flash Thunderbolt!"

Massive blasts of lightning flew from his hands, snaking through the skies and skewering airborne viruses as they made their way to the ground, whipping at it repeatedly. The lashes tore up the earth, ripping open panels that some Mets fell into before a series of mighty explosions occurred, covering the entire battlefield and eradicating everything that was caught up within the blasts. The Navi floated over the chaos, hands outstretched with lightning dancing between his fingers as he watched the explosions continue to delete viruses.

"With this, it's over," he said as the blasts began to die out.

He ran his eyes over the area to confirm his statement. True to his word not a single virus remained.

"Thou hast all been slain. Consider it an honor to be deleted by the Green Slayer."

The Navi glanced towards the Forest-Heart, where its own climatic explosion had subsided. Curiosity urged him to investigate, but the rules would not have it. He grunted while being jacked out.

XXXX

"You okay, MegaMan?" Lan asked to his PET.

"Yeah, just a bit rattled," his Navi replied while popping up as a hologram over his operator's shoulder, "Give me a minute and I'll be fine."

"Okay."

The teen looked around, surveying the area as he saw leaves fall off one of the trees, followed by more. This set off alarm bells in his head.

"MegaMan, you good to go back in?" he asked.

Noting the concern his voice, the blue nodded, "Yeah."

Lan whipped up his arm, then pointed his PET at the port on the tree he stood next to and fired a red beam into it. MegaMan's form dissolved from the PET as he was teleported into the ForestNet, now brown.

"What the!?" he shouted in alarm, "Lan are you seeing this!?"

"Yeah and I think I know what it means! Get to the Forest-Heart!"

MegaMan nodded as he raced through the network, noticing no signs of life in the area as he approached the Heart. He squinted his eyes.

"I see something on the ground and it's moving…slowly," he said while coming up to it and letting out a strangled gasp, "Oh no…it's ForestMan…and he's not looking very good."

The plant Navi was grey with rotted armour, coughing while he writhed on the ground in pain.

"ForestMan!"

Hearing his name he opened a red eye and looked up.

"Mega…Man…"

"Hang tight! I'll get you help!" the blue said while looking up, "Lan! Call Mayl! We need Roll now!"

"It's…no use…" ForestMan said, gasping between words, "My life…and this forest are intertwined. To save me…you would have to save the entire ForestNet."

MegaMan fell silent. Roll's healing powers were strong, but a Network was beyond even her.

"The core…is gone…the blast took it out. It destroyed the entire Forest-Heart."

"What about Jazz?" Lan asked.

"He ran towards AxeMan…tried to stop him…now he's gone," ForestMan replied before grabbing the blue's hand, "MegaMan, there is something you must no! I…saw someone after the blast died out!"

"!"

"A Navi I've never seen before! He was…looking for something in the remains of the Core...and he found it and left!"

"Do you know what it was?"

"No…I never knew the ForestNet had such a…secret," ForestMan said as his coughing grew worse.

"ForestMan stop talking! Save your strength!"

"I'm…done for…without the core…" he gasped while letting go and making a fist that flashed, "So…I'm using the last…of my strength...for this…my NaviChip. Take it."

MegaMan became silent once more as he accepted the data. ForestMan smiled.

"You're…going…to do something about this…" he said while his head lolled to the side, "Good…I can…rest…knowing…you've…got this…"

He closed his eyes and stopped moving before breaking down into pixels that signaled his deletion.

"DAMN IT!" Lan screamed while punching the wall repeatedly.

"Be strong, Lan," MegaMan said as he got up and looked to the now grey skies, "We have to keep it together. Especially when this is just the start of things."

The operator nodded after taking several breaths, "You're right."

He jacked his Navi out and left the forest, noticing the police with a lumberjack in custody.

"…So that's it. N.O.E.T.'s done."

"Yeah, but now there's another threat out there. We can't rest on our laurels as Mr. Azura said," MegaMan remarked.

"You're right," Lan said while bringing up his wrist, "When these guys show up, we're gonna have to stop them. You with me, MegaMan?"

"Always."

_**MEGA MAN BATTLE NETWORK**_

_**ULTIMATE UNIVERSE**_

Opening Song – Sky's the Limit (Persona 4 Animation)

Glaciers of ideas importing  
to my friends then exporting  
to the next keeping it open  
we want no closing  
even without those our thoughts can be dope and  
this mind trade no one can stop  
and act of thinking is terrible to stop  
we just wanna change up not drop  
and my crew can rock it like up rock  
life is tedious if it ain't flowing  
copy and paste? constant defaulting?  
Put my courage to it, begin showing off  
that's the way we wanna live  
keep going, yeah

what was so much  
of transparency  
turned into bright expectation  
my instinct tells me to keep going together  
going together

Its breathtaking moments in life  
addicted to it  
minds craving  
more and more  
I'm believing  
you and I can do anything  
we can change the world  
hey sky the limit we can spread wings  
to road less travel together we go

* * *

_A/N: I've always wanted to end and arc with an intro song ala what some RPGs have done (Wild Arms 5 comes to mind) and the first opening for Persona 4's Anime works well. Yeah it has some engrish but it's still really good. Anyway the first campaign of BNUU is over and as alluded to, now the real stuff begins._


End file.
